Machine for making tufted carpets and like fabrics



DeC- 10, 1968 R. ELLIsoN ETAL 3,415,209

MACHINE FOR MAKING TUFTED CARPETS AND LIKE FABRICS Filed March 23, 196'?United States1 Patent O "ice MACHINE FOR MAKING TUFTED CARPETS AND LIKEFABRICS Ronald Ellison, Blackburn, and John Pritchard, Rishton, England,assignors to vEllison Tufting Machinery Limited, Blackburn, England, acorpora-` tion of Great Britain Filed Mar. 23, 1967, Ser. No. 625,425Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 28, 1966,

13,625/ 66 4 Claims. (Cl. 112-79) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A machinefor producing a tufted fabric from a plurality of differentlyconstituted yarns. The machine includes needles, means forreciprocatingsaid needles through a backing fabric to effect loop formation, a supplyof a plurality of yarns for each needle, control means for selecting aparticular yarn and preenting it to its associated needle during loopformation, and means for severing said yarns after said loop formation.

Our invention relates to a machine for making patterned carpets and likefabrics, and has for its principal object the production of a machinefor making a tufted fabric with a pattern in several colours or types ofyarn.

Another object of the invention is the production of a tufting machineadapted to make a multi-coloured fabric having a supply of yarns foreach needle, the said yarns being of different colours and beingpresented as selected by a pattern to the said needle by an arrangementof flexible tubes.

In one embodiment of our invention, we providev a table over which alength of backing fabric is drawn at a suitable speed. A row of hookedlatch needles is provided below the table, withmeans for reciprocatingthe row so that the needles pierce the fabric. A row of loop catchers(loopers) is also provided, with means for cutting the apices of theloops if required.

Above the table a creel of yarn is located, the creel having a number ofbobbins for each needle corresponding to the number of alternativecolours to -be fed to the needle. A lyarn from each bobbin is fedthrough ,a nonreturn catch and a yarn tensioner to a flexible tube madefor example of polyvinyl chloride (P.V.C.) the lower end of the tubes,with a short length of yarn protruding therefrom, being located abovethe associated needle. Means are provided for bringing the end of aparticular tube, selected under control of a pattern, above the path ofthe needle. This can be eifected by fixing the tubes associated witheach needle on a bar, and sliding the bar to and fro by a selectingmechanism. Finally a yarn gripper is provided for each needle, togetherwith a yarn presser bar and a knife common to all the needles.

In operation the tube carrier bars are moved by their control mechanismto bring a selected colour yarn above each needle. The yarn grippersseize the selected yarns and bring them into the paths of the hookedlatch needles, which are presed through the backing fabric. The needleshook the yarns, looping them by means of their latches through thefabric, and transfer the formed loops to the loopers which are advancedtowards the needles for this purpose, After the production of one ormore loops the presser bar is advanced to clamp the yarns against theback of the backing fabric, and the knife severs them.

During the next period a fresh selection of yarn colours is made, andthe machine action is repeated.

Although the formation of one loop per needle has been described, morethan one, all of one colour, may be 3,415,209 Patented Dec. v 10, `196,8

formed and transferred to a looper before yarn cutting is effected. Theapices of the loops may be severed either singly orl after several havebeen, transferredlo4 the loopers.

Although ay colour patternedcarpet construction,has been described, itis obvious that yarns of different cl1'ar acter or denier may be usedinstead of different colours. The pattern control is preferably of anoptical pickuptype, the pattern being drawn on one or more sheets orbands which are suitably illuminated, the sheets lbeing v passed beforea row of pickup devices as photlo-trzfuisis;l

tors, the outputsl of which determine the colours ofthe yarns to beusedfor the various loops. I l' Reference shouldnow be made totheaccompanying drawing which shows anembodiment of our iiiventionjReferring to the figure, we provide a tablefl over whicli a length ofbacking fabric 2 is drawn in the direction of the arrow by drivenrollers of normal type (not shown) Below the table 1 there is a row oflatch needles one of which is shown at 3. The needles. are carried on aneedle bar 4 which is .reciprocated in guides 5 by a driven link 6. Theneedles in their lowest position are situated with their points belowthe fabric, and in their highest position they are as shown in thedrawing. There .is also a row of loopers 7 carried on a reciprocatingbar 8, the bar being suitably moved in phase with the needle move-y mentby the spur gearing 9. In addition, there are a series of knives 10carried'on a bar 11 which is also reciprocated in a nearly verticaldirection in order to cut the yarn if necessary, as will be describedlater.

Above the table there is a Creel of yarn bobbins (not shown), with anumber of bobbins for each needle corresponding to the number ofalternative colours to be fedv to the needle. In the drawing, four yarnsdesirably of different colours are shown. A yarn 11 is fed from eachbobbin through a non-return catch 12 combined withga matic pressure isapplied to any of the cylinders, they are de-energised and the bar 14 ismoved to an end position against a stop 20 by spring 33. In thisposition,'the endflexible tube 21 would be in a position above-theneedle. As shown in the drawing, the cylinder 16 has been supplied withcompressed air, so that the bar 14 is pushed one selection of the colourof yarn to be supplied to the needle at each stitch is determined .by apattern which,

may be coloured, and there may 'be an optical pickup for each needle,the pickup controlling the supply of compressed air to the cylinders.

Above each needle is a yarn gripper 35. These grippers rotate on a shaft25, and each gripper consists of two parts, 26 and 27, the two partsbeing movable relative to one another so that a yarn 11 can Ibe'grippedin the jaws 28, 29. This latter jaw terminates in a yarn guide 30.Finally there is a presser bar 31 including a foot, which isreciprocable in the direction shown vby the doubleheaded arrow near it,the presser bar being adapted to press against the fabric 2, and a yarnwhich is being drawn through it by the needle 3, whereupon the end ofthe yarn is severed by a knife 32 which is oscillated in a directio nnormal to the plane of the drawing. The knife and presser foot areprovided with recesses opposite each yarn path, so that when the footadvances, each yarn enters a recess, whereupon the Aknife bar is slidendwise severing the yarns.

The machine operates as follows. Assuming that all the parts are in awithdrawn condition, i.e. that the needles are below the fabric, thegripper mechanism is as shown with the grippers upwards, and the -bar 14is against its rear stop; none or one of the cylinders 16, 17 or 18 issupplied with compressed air under the control of the pattern, thecylinder selected being in accordance with the colour to be fed to thegripper. This moves the appropriate flexible tube 13 above itsassociated needle, whereupon the two jaws 28, 29 are closed together bya rotating mechanism at the end of the shaft 25 (not shown). This gripsthe end of the yarn protruding from the tube 22, whereupon the grippermechanism rotates through about 180 to the position shown dotted in thedrawing, pulling the end of the yarn past the hooked end of a needle 3,which has by this time risen through the fabric. The needle is actuallylocated on the machine with its hook facing the gripper, but the hook isrotated through 90 in the drawing for clarity. The movement of thegripper mechanism now ceases, and the needle moves downwards drawing aloop of the yarn through the fabric. The end of the yarn which has beenengaged by the gripper remains held, so that the yarn is drawn from itsassociated tube. Thereupon the presser foot 31 ad vances, holds thestitch or loop that is formed onto the base fabric, and the knife 'blade32 is oscillated end-wise severing the yarn. Whilst the presser footholds the formed loop in place, the looper 7 catches the yarn, and theknife severs the loop if this is required. Otherwise the loop remains soas to form an uncut pile fabric. Whilst the yarn is held by the presserfoot, the gripper 27 releases its yarn end and once more rotates through180 to the position shown in the drawing, the end of the yarn previouslypassing over the guide 30 being retained on the fabric 2 by the presserfoot. The return of the presser foot to the position shown in full inthe drawing completes the formation of a whole row of stitches, sincethere has been a similar operation carried on by all the other needles,of which there may be several hundred.

After withdrawal of the presser foot the fabric is drawn along in thedirection of the arrow, presenting a new piece of backing fabric for thenext row of stitches, the knife 10 and the looper 7 are returned to theposition shown in drawing, and the cycle is repeated for the next row ofstitches.

Although the invention has .been described in connection with the supplyof various colours of yarn to a mechanism, it should be understood thatdiferent types or deniers of yarn may be used, so as to produce apattern of varying texture rather than colour. Although the formation ofone loop in the course of a needle stroke has been described, followedif necessary -by another loop of a different colour, it should beunderstood that several loops, all of one colour, are preferably formedin sequence and transferred to a looper before yarn cutting is effected,to ensure that the loops are secured in the backing fabric.

The apices of the loops may be severed either singly or after severalhave been transferred to the loopers. After the yarn loops have beendrawn into the backing fabric, the back of this material is coated withan adhesive such as a rubber latex.

We claim:

1. In a machine for producing a tufted fabric from a backing and aplurality of differently constituted yarns, the combination comprising aplurality of needles, means for reciprocating the needles through thebacking, a plurality of differently constituted yarns associated witheach needle, a flexible guide tube for each said yarn through which saidyarn passes, a slidably mounted bar carrying an end portion of each tubethrough which the yarn exits, means securing the tubes so that when thebar is moved the end portions of the tubes shift, pattern-controlledmeans for moving the bar to position the tubes so that a preselectedyarn is presented to its associated needle, gripper means for carryingthe preselected yarn from its tube to its needle when the needle ispiercing the backing, the gripper means including a pair of gripperjaws, means rotating said jaws to a closed position to grip saidpreselected yam, rotating said jaws in common to a position to engagethe yarn to the needle and rotating said jaws to free the preselectedyarn after the needle has withdrawn through the backing and formed aloop on the backing.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein a bar mounts theneedles in common, means reciprocates the needle bar, each needleincludes a hook and a latch, each needle being moved by the barreciprocating means from below the backing through the backing andreturned to below the backing during the formation of a loop.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 further including a presserfoot associated with the needles, a knife mounted on said presser foot,means for moving the foot to a position to press a portion of thepreselected yarn against the backing after the formation of a loop, andmeans for moving the knife to sever the preselected yarn at a locationbetween the backing and the tube through which the yarn passes.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1 further including a looperassociated with each needle, a bar mounting the loopers in common, andmeans lfor moving the bar during the formation of a loop so that theyarn loops are transferred `from the needles to the loopers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,828,702 4/1958 Hall 112-79.52,862,465 12/1958 Card 112-79.6 X 2,887,966 5/1959 Felton i12-79.53,247,814 4/1966 Polevitzky 112--79 FOREIGN PATENTS 919,904 2/ 1963Great Britain.

HERBERT F. ROSS, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

